Amidst the sand and bones
by TragedicMerlin
Summary: Ichigo, the classics teacher having strange dreams. Grimmjow, the French archaeologist. An ancient site undisturbed for millennia. What, and more importantly, who, will they find? GrimmIchi This is AU, eventual YAOI.


**Somewhere in the Egyptian desert, 4000 years ago….**

"We must hold the city gates until the legion of Anubis get here!" cried one of the lower officers.

"Fool, I know what our orders were, but it's impossible to do with their numbers far exceeding our own". Snapped the commander of the city's forces. He surveyed the situation before sighing and turning to face the man now visibly shaking with fear.

"Order everyone to retreat to the underground levels, and marshal our remaining soldiers at the temple, the 11th unit will hold the gates for as long as possible to allow the civilians to escape".

Having barked out his orders, the commander left to help the soldiers by the south gate, which was currently besieged by thousands of enemy warriors. A few had managed to break through the outer line of defenders, though luckily the 11th unit had left a small group behind the main body, who were successfully holding them back for now.

Approaching one of these breaches the commander of the city's forces unsheathed the sword at his side. It was a fine weapon, forged by one of Egypt's most talented weaponsmiths. The blade was a dull gold that glowed in the dying light of the sun and dancing flames of torches as if alive. The blade was slightly curved, making hacking and slashing motions twice as deadly. There was no guard, the handle wrapped in royal blue linen. The pommel was rounded, inlaid with a single sphere sapphire. It had been gifted to him by the Pharaoh personally when he was appointed to the position of commander of this most important of cities. His sword was an elite one, since it had a name. Named swords were rare, and it was a great honour to possess one. His blade was named 'The Regal One' an appropriate name matching its delicate craftsmanship by Pharaoh's personal weaponsmith.

He flew to his soldiers' side, cutting down what seemed like an endless number of foes. After what felt like an eternity their numbers finally began to dwindle. When the last visible foe had been struck down, the commander turned to assess his forces. It appeared that just under half the 11th unit were still able to stand and fight, while a dozen volunteers from the 4th unit fluttered between the injured, treating them as best they could. His attention was diverted by a loud explosion and cracking of stone. He stared in horror at the sight before him. The temple of the gods, the largest and most beautiful in all Egypt, lay in ruins, a large boulder laying amongst the debris. His anger only spiked further upon seeing _the traitor_ descending the temple steps. In his inattentiveness a group of enemy warriors had appeared and slain most of those who were still defending the wall. A sharp pain cracked through the right side of his head and he collapsed, though through the pain he felt his arms being pulled up to stop him falling to the floor. He tried to move, to break free, but he found himself falling into inky blackness as he lost consciousness.

When he awoke he sensed he was lying on his back on a smooth surface. Attempting to move he found his arms and legs immobilised by rope. _What the hell is happening? Who tied me up? When? How long have I been like this? Where am I?_ His blood ran cold when he heard a voice he had never wanted to hear again.

"Ah good. You're awake".

It was that gods damned traitor. Flicking his face towards the voice his features contorted with anger at the sight before him. Some of the city's surviving warriors were chained to several large wooden pillars that he recognised. _We're underneath the temple!_

"You bastard! How dare you attack our city, the legion of Anubis will destroy you!"

The traitorous one only smiled, the strand of hair that that fell between his eyes only pissing the city commander off more.

"Now now, there's no need to speak like that. After all, I've kept you alive and brought you here to witness my victory"

His sadistic smile as the figure on the altar struggled against his bindings. Walking past the altar to the alcove that kept the temple's sacred dagger, he took it, and walked over to the captives tied to the nearest pillar. He grabbed the hair of the nearest man and lifted his head until the soft, vulnerable part of the man's throat was visible. Drawing the knife across the man's throat quickly he slit through the windpipe and dropped the man's head.

"No!"

"Oh don't worry, you won't be around to watch the rest die. You're next, and you're going to die by your own sword!"

 **Karakura town, present day.**

Ichigo Kurosaki woke up sweating. _This dream again_ he thought. He'd had this dream before, but never this clear. He was seeing actual faces now instead of blurry features. The dream unnerved him, and he wondered if it had anything to do with the excavation he was departing for today. It was supposedly an Ancient Egyptian city lost in the desert, and there were no written records of the site bar a single badly burned papyrus that was recovered from a remote tomb in the eighteenth century and was now housed in the British museum. Ichigo had jumped at the chance to be part of the excavation. If they discovered something then they would be researching and publishing about the site for _years_. The only thing that had cooled Ichigo's enthusiasm was discovering who had been selected to lead the archaeological side of the expedition. Ichigo had worked with the man twice before, and he found the man to be overly aggressive, however his results and research were flawless and considered some of the best in the world. Despite his personal dislike of the man, who had once left his assistant in tears, Ichigo could respect the man's work. He got it done on time and to a standard most archaeologists were envious of. Looking at the alarm clock Ichigo jumped out the bed in shock. It was 10am already! He rushed to the shower and by 10:30 he was driving to the university.

 _Where the hell is Ichigo?_ Thought Rukia Kuchiki, Ichigo's research assistant. Rukia was a fairly young woman, in her third year of studying for her PhD in classical studies. Dr Ichigo Kurosaki had selected her as his research assistant from dozens of candidates. She was incredibly grateful, though sometimes she wondered if it was because her brother was the chancellor of Karakura University. Ichigo would always deny this when she asked, and he was truthful. He was one of the best classical historians in the world, and he did not accept tardiness. Byakuya had actually told Ichigo to not hire Rukia if she couldn't produce a piece of work acceptable to his standards. She had, and there had only been one other student to produce work Ichigo would accept, however she was well known for being incredibly ditzy. Miss Inoue had therefore been asked if she would instead work in the university's HR department before being allowed to work as an assistant. She had instantly accepted, since she loved the chance of even being near Dr Kurosaki. Rukia liked the girl, though she found her to be annoying at times, with her always insisting she should dress up more girlishly. Heaven knew how that girl survived in the most ridiculous high heels, and her breasts were comically large, always making her look as if she was about to keel over due to their weight.

Rukia was drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of an approaching car. _Finally_ she thought. She checked her watch. They had 2 hours before their flight was due and it would take at least 40 minutes to get to the airport.

"Dr. Kurosaki! Finally, I've been waiting for you since 10. Did you bring all your documents?

"Morning Rukia" said Ichigo as he climbed out his car. "Yes I've got everything I need, could you help me collect our equipment from the archaeology labs?"

10 minutes and a full car later they were on their way to the airport. Ichigo kept his eyes on the road, but found it difficult to concentrate due to images from his dream coming to him. Rukia, oblivious to this, was on the phone to one of the graduate students who were coming with them to work on the excavation. They were mostly archaeologists, though there were a few from other disciplines tagging along.

"Rangiku is everyone there? Yes I'm sorry we're running a little late but we'll be there with plenty of time to spare. Is Dr Hitsugaya attending the excavation? That's great, if you could tell him we'll meet him at Cairo airport we'll travel together from there. Yes thank you, we'll see you soon."

Flicking her phone shut she spoke to Ichigo. "Rangiku is waiting with the students, and Dr Hitsugaya will be meeting us in Cairo."

"Excellent, it will be nice to see Toshiro again, I haven't seen him since he went to work in China on that dig at the Great Wall. Who else is coming?"

"There's Rangiku and Dr Hitsugaya obviously, then there's Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika, Shuhei is tagging along for Dr Komamura, miss Soi Fon and miss Shihoin, Kisuke Urahara, and miss Harribel."

Ichigo nodded to himself, it was a good group that was going, Byakuya had done a good job in selecting them. Turning into the airport's long-term parking, he checked his papers to make sure he had everything he needed. Passport, visa and the documents he had to present to show he was going on an official expedition. Getting out the car he walked towards the departures lounge with Rukia carrying their equipment. They found the others waiting inside, bar Renji who had disappeared to smoke. When he came back they went through check-in and apart from a quick lunch grabbed from an expensive café they had to go straight to the gate to board the plane.

The flight was mostly uneventful, save for Shuhei throwing up all a poor hostess and Harribel not so subtly trying to learn whether Hitsugaya had been seeing anyone. Ichigo had been unable to get much sleep on the flight, worried he would slip back into that strange dream. They had just collected their luggage and he was mentally bracing himself for Toshiro's shouting that would inevitably happen when Rangiku saw him. As if on cue a shock of white hair was coming their way and Rangiku shouted in excitement.

"Dr Hitsugaya!"

She ran towards him, her breasts knocking people aside before her bosom connected with Toshiro's face and smothered him as she hugged him tightly.

"Get off me you freak of nature!" yelled Toshiro.

"I swear you do that to try and kill me, have you ever considered a reduction?"

Shaking his head, Hitsugaya turned to Ichigo and the others and gave a slight smile.

"Hey, long time no see Toshiro"

A sigh, "I wish you would call me Dr Hitsugaya, I worked hard to get that title you know"

Ichigo smiled, it had been a while since he had seen Toshiro, and he looked forward to catching up with the man. He saw Rangiku shoot him a smirk when Harribel detached herself from the group to go and speak to Hitsugaya.

"Dr Hitsugaya, it's nice to see you again, how was China?"

As the two began to talk Rangiku came over to Ichigo and said slyly.

"She fancies the pants off Dr Hitsugaya but refuses to admit it. She plays the cold and careful type well, but as soon as she sees him she becomes all flustered. It's adorable"

"You're one to talk, get you near Gin and you're like a cat in heat"

Rangiku hit his arm playfully while pouting.

"That's not true! He isn't my type!"

Ichigo laughed as he opened his phone, checking the name of their driver. They were going to spend the night in Cairo and meet up with the others who were working on the excavation. Ichigo just hoped he was drunk before he ran into the French devil who was in charge of the excavation.

Apparently he would have no such luck, as he saw the mess of blue hair approaching.

"Oi! Kurosaki, long time no see!"

 _Aw crap._

"Hello Grimmjow"


End file.
